Granular computing, computational intelligence, and the analysis of non-geometric input spaces

Data granulation emerged as an important paradigm in modeling and computing with uncertainty, exploiting information granules as the main mathematical constructs involved in the context of granular computing. In this paper, we comment on the importance of data granulation in computational intelligence methods. Toward this aim, we discuss also the peculiar aspects related to the analysis of non-geometric patterns, which have recently attracted considerable attention by researchers. As a conclusion, we elaborate over the fundamental, conceptual problems underlying the process of data granulation, which drive the quest for a sound theory of granular computing.